Archive for September, 2008

I just love the new Light House Cinema at Smithfield in Dublin, Ireland designed by Dublin’s award-winning DTA Architects. Light House cinema has been a bit of an institution in Dublin. It started showing Irish, independent, foreign-language, art house and classic cinema 20 years ago, closed in 1966, and re-opened this summer in its new, customized space.The new design capitalizes on existing assets of the theater and adds its own extra charm, blurring the line(design-wise) between a theater and an art museum. Beautiful!

Kenchikukagu designed by Atelier OPA from Japan is a series of foldaway furniture which includes a foldaway work station, a foldaway bed and a foldaway kitchen. The best part of this furniture is that when not in use, you can just fold it away and make space around it. Just what the doctor prescribed for a small sized residence!

Simplicity is the key factor in all of Christian Vivanco designs; always in search by the unification, not only of forms or surfaces, but of functions and uses, customs and necessities, always trying to create something simple, something beautiful. Something that becomes apparent with ‘our little white sofa’. The sofa, designed for both outdoor and indoor use, was conceptualised while searching for an all-together furniture, but at the same time looking for a new expression for this kind of piece. I want one!!

SD Memory Card is a university project in graphic design by Matt Keers. It is a 3D camera SD memory card incorporating a fold out poster showing the relationship between the photographs and the amount of memory left on the chip. I quite liked his other work too.

Half of the world’s poor suffer from waterborne disease, and nearly 6,000 people – mainly children – die each day by consuming unsafe drinking water. My earlier post – Clean Drinking Water for All….. Is that a Viable Dream? talked about the issue of potable water for all, but from an urbanite’s point of view……about a nightmare coming true. But what most of us forget is that a major part of the world is living that nightmare ‘right now’! And that’s why I really appreciate attempts by companies to address the problem and come out with sustainable, viable solutions.

One such attempt is the LifeStraw® developed by Vestergaard Frandsen. The two products LifeStraw® Personal and LifeStraw® Family are complimentary point-of-use water filters – truly unique offerings that will help people obtain safe drinking water at home and outside – paving the way for swiftly and effectively accomplishing the VF and MDGs. LifeStraw® water purifiers have been developed as a practical way of preventing disease and saving lives, as well as achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water by the year 2015.

Copenhagen based designer Phillip Grass has designed this wonderfully sleek sofa (its a digital prototype) – Acceleration, which is “futuristic with a sense of acceleration and speed; organic with seamless flowing forms”. He’s obviously inspired by spaceships, airplanes and cars, as well as the structure of bones and the fluid forms of fish.

I’ve read a lot of criticism for this design on Dezeen, where I came across it first. But to the designer’s credit, he’s at least tried to create something different – every concept need not end up being a ‘master’ design, and yes, proportions could go wrong when you start with something. If the designer has the sense to refine and rework on mistakes, why not give him a chance? As for myself, I do like the aerodynamic form, in spite of the obvious references. And I do think a real world prototype would help erase all doubts…..

Designed by Architect Daniel Libeskind and Klaus Nienkamper the Spirit House Chair is constructed of stainless steel sheets in “interlocking, self-supporting structures, which are reminiscent of crystals”. The chair was designed for the Spirit House constructed last year in the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Whats more, each chair comes with a custom laser-engraved signature of the designer. I like Libeskind work in general, but this chair really stands apart – I love it! And it quite makes me think – “Origami in Steel”.